Compared with those states in other countries using a federal-state system, the constituent states in Malaysia play relatively limited roles in relation to the centre. Francis Loh examines the factors that have contributed towards Malaysia’s centralised federalism.
Clearly, newly-minted Housing and Local Government Minister, Ong Ka Chuan of the MCA, has not got the message from the general election result, observes Tingang. He’s saying that so-called “federal funds” will go to the PR-ruled states through a separate federally, i.e. BN, controlled channel. This is spitting in the faces of the people who voted in the PR governments.